Posts Tagged ‘
natural gas ’

Residents and businesses in Wilton will soon be able to make the switch to clean-burning, affordable natural gas. Yankee Gas is installing a new natural gas pipeline, making Wilton the first community in the state to partner with a utility through Connecticut’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy.

The Green Party of Rhode Island is seeking to create a five-state alliance of Green parties (MA-RI-CT-NY-NJ) to STOP the proposed Algonquin Pipeline expansion.

This $971 million project has moved into high gear, with a final application now on file at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. There’s been little public comment so far and the opposition, while growing, has been fragmented. Only the Green parties are positioned to quickly ramp up a coordinated, multi-state resistance.

See other posts under the energy section for more about this pipeline proposal.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Wednesday that expanding natural gas pipelines to provide delivery to an additional 280,000 Connecticut customers over the next 10 years is key to controlling rising costs for power in the region.

A year after approving a massive expansion of natural gas use in Connecticut, state lawmakers are considering a ban on storing or recycling wastewater generated as a byproduct of gas exploration. Environmentalists back several bills intended to eliminate any possibility that Connecticut will be exposed to wastewater produced when chemical-laced water used to fracture underground[continue reading…]

Which would you rather do: heat your home, or turn on your lights? That’s a choice made every day on New England’s natural gas pipelines, and the answer is always the same. Heating homes is given priority. It’s a decision that makes sense given the number of other fuels available to generate electricity — coal,[continue reading…]

Ellen Foley, a spokeswoman for ISO-New England, the Holyoke, Mass.-based entity responsible for operating the region’s power grid, said that while the current cold snap isn’t going to be felt by consumers in the short-term, there will be an impact going forward. “What consumers are paying now is coming from contracts that were agreed to[continue reading…]

This incident begs the question: if the safety recommendations of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill had been implemented swiftly, would this accident have occurred at all? It is particularly notable that the blowout preventer appears not to have worked in this instance, just as is it didn’t on the Deepwater[continue reading…]

LNG, which sells for approximately $2 a gallon (versus $4 for diesel), is fast becoming the fuel of choice for long-distance trucking and, yes, you can thank fracking for that. We can and should talk about the environmental hazards of fracking, but the fact is, the country is awash in cheap natural gas, and it’s starting to ripple through the economy, including right here in Connecticut.

As soon as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled his draft energy plan for the state in October, heating oil dealers were up in arms over its assumption that expansion of natural gas would save consumers money. One energy expert says the energy plan actually says the opposite. “The departments analysis clearly indicates that a large[continue reading…]

Mark LeBel, an energy fellow at the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, told DEEP officials Tuesday that the price difference between oil and natural gas is not the headline … To LeBel it doesn’t matter whether it’s oil or natural gas, if the furnace burning the fuel isn’t efficient and there’s insulation hanging from the ceiling then it really doesn’t matter why type of energy someone is using. Christine Stuart of CT News Junkie reports.

Heating oil dealers across Connecticut are planning to show up in large numbers Monday for a public hearing on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s draft energy policy. The group led by the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association is upset with plans to encourage 300,0000 homeowners and businesses to switch from heating oil to natural gas. For more[continue reading…]

I’m not sure whether to classify this as business, energy, or propaganda. Gov. Dannel Malloy was on hand at Amity High School Monday to press a case for natural gas — and other forms of alternative energy — in Connecticut. Malloy joined DEEP Commissioner Daniel Esty, Woodbridge First Selectman Edward Maum Sheehy, Amity Board of[continue reading…]

Are you a member of The New England Council? I ask because Brad Kane reports in the Hartford Business Journal today that regional business group New England Council and accounting firm Deloitte released a “smart-infrastructure study” Tuesday calling for New England states to convert more homes and businesses to gas heating and add more tolls to major highways and population centers.

Geologists have long known about huge natural gas deposits trapped in shale rock formations, but it is only over the past decade that energy companies have combined two established technologies to unlock this resource. Watch this video on how Chevron uses horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to what it calls “safely produce natural gas from[continue reading…]

Natural gas is good for the environment. It’s the cleanest conventional fuel, producing less than half the carbon dioxide emissions of coal, and 30 percent less than oil. In addition, natural gas produces far less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter than either coal or oil, making it the preferred environmental choice.

In New England, the increased use of natural gas for power generation is viewed as both a solution and a problem. The abundance of supply in the nearby Marcellus Shale has helped lower prices for gas in the region, and its reputation as a cleaner-burning fossil fuel has made it more attractive, leading to record[continue reading…]

Connecticut Fund for the Environment said they are concerned that Gov. Malloy’s new Comprehensive Energy Strategy, which promotes a major conversion to natural gas. They say it’s “short-sighted,” pointing out that “In the last decade the country has paid the price for our attachment to oil.”

Everyone should be concerned about the governor of this state’s infatuation with natural gas. Just because it’s “natural” doesn’t mean it’s good for us.

Big utilities have been using their big ad budgets to try to convince the American public that natural gas is the salvation for our country’s energy concerns. Quite simply, it is not. For more on this story, visit: Natural gas not the key to energy future – Connecticut Post.